Release the Hounds 2
by mikkiemakkie
Summary: When Fury tricks Coulson and the team into a familiar and frightening situation they find themselves, yet again, running for their lives in a strange game of cat and mouse... Will they succeed this time? Rated T for horror theme which may not be suitable for younger people. (Damn you neeeaaalllll for asking for it :p)
1. Chapter 1

"Coulson. A word." Fury shouted through the doors of the hub.

Coulson looked at May and followed Fury through the doors into his office.

"What's up?"

"I am sending you and your team on a survival training exercise. In this folder you will find the details you need and the location you are expected to be in." Fury told him, passing him a folder.

"Can I ask why, Sir?"

"Because you are behind in your assessments." Fury explained.

"Ok. I will get my team and we will go and do this survival training." Coulson conceeded.

* * *

><p>"May, fire up the 'bus. I'll gather the kids. We're going on a trip" Coulson told May as he rejoined her outside Fury's office.<p>

"Where we going?" She asked.

Coulson flipped the folder open.

" Mortimer Forest."

"Woods? You can't be serious. Last time Ward got pneumonia" May said to him, remembering their last venture into the woods with a shudder.

"It's only a training exercise. We'll be fine." Coulson explained.

May made a face at Coulson and went to make sure the bus was ready to take off.

Coulson went to go get the others, starting with Fitz and Simmons. They were, rather predictably, in the lab, teaching other Agent's how to effectively use the weapons and gadgets they had designed and developed on the 'bus.

"Yo! Lenny, Zippy. We have to leave. Be at the 'bus in five minutes." Coulson told them from the doorway, before going in search of Ward and Skye, who could be anywhere.

He found them in the gym. He watched as Ward flipped Skye to the floor before pinning her with his body. He saw Skye say something to him before he took a quick look around and, realising that they were alone, placed a quick kiss on her lips before rolling off her and getting to his feet. He helped Skye up and they retook their positions.

Smiling at himself, Coulson entered the room as Skye jabbed at Ward, which he blocked, grabbed her arm and threw her back to the floor. He had obviously sensed Coulson because this time, instead of pinning her, he stood up and turned to face his fearless team leader.

"What's up?" Ward asked, in a tone that was an octave higher than his usual low growl.

"We caught a training exercise. 'Bus in five." Coulson told them.

Skye bit her lip and raced out of the door, skirting between Ward and Coulson.

"Been standing there long?" Ward asked him as Skye's mane of hair disappeared from view. His voice returned to normal

"Long enough."

"I erm, we erm." Ward spluttered.

"You and Skye have been playing tonsil tennis since we all had to outrun a pack of crazy dogs?" Coulson offered as a helpful hint.

"How long have you known?" Ward asked him aghast.

"I knew something had happened in the woods, confirmed when she kissed you on the 'bus."

"You saw that?"

"I did. You two look good on candid camera by the way." Coulson told him.

"So, 'bus. I'll grab my stuff." Ward said, striding for the door.

* * *

><p>"So where are we headed?" Simmons asked while they flew to the forest.<p>

"Director Fury claims we're all behind on out assessments and wants us to catch up by going on a survival training exercise in a place called Mortimer Forest." Coulson explained to the team, except May, who already knew.

"Anyone else got a bad feeling about this?" Fitz asked raising his hand in the air, realising the last time they had all been in the woods together things hadn't quite gone smoothly.

Skye, Simmons, May and Ward all put their hands in the air. Not one of them thought it was a good idea.

"It's an order, direct from Fury, so we don't have much of a choice." Coulson told his reluctant team.

"So what do we need to do?" Ward asked.

"Fury has included a map and a path for us to follow. I guess we follow it." May said as she flicked through the file.

"OWWW!" Simmons cried, jumping a mile and pulling her shin up to inspect it.

May and Fitz looked at her to make sure she was alright Coulson, however looked at Skye and Ward. Shaking his head he returned to the task at hand.

"So we land on the edge of the forest, we get our packs that we should put together after we're done here, and then we set off down the trail." Coulson told them all, diverting their attention back onto him.

"It still sounds like there's something missing." Skye pointed out.

"_Alright!_ We are done here. Go and prep your packs."

* * *

><p>May landed the 'bus on the edge of the forest where Coulson indicated the start of the trail was. They all changed into suitable clothes and picked their packs up. Securing the bus they headed off into the thick growth of trees.<p>

"Does anyone get a feeling of Déjà Vu?" Skye asked as they heard a howling in the distance.

"It's going to be fine." Coulson told her, trying to reassure himself that Fury wasn't leading them down a path they really didn't want to be on.

"Let's just move. I don't like the look of that sky over there." Ward said, pointing over the top of the trees to a really low flying black cloud.

"We need to set up camp before that rain hits us." May confirmed.

"Let's go then." Coulson said, taking out the map and leading the way, closely followed by May, Fitz, Simmons with Skye and Ward, who no one noticed, were holding hands and bringing up the rear.

They walked for around four hours in comfortable silence. So far, nothing had happened to indicate Fury had tricked them.

Coulson arrived at a clearing.

He stopped dead. One by one the team joined him, all stopping and looking at what lie before them.

Six tree stumps in a perfect circle. Each had a bright purple rucksack on them.

A bright light flashed forcing them to shield their eyes.

As a group they dropped to the floor unconscious.


	2. Chapter 2

Ward came to first. He opened his eyes and rubbed them. He quickly realised that there was a heavy weight on his stomach. Looking at it he saw Skye's head. She had fallen onto him.

That's when he noticed he was laid on his back. Flat on his back.

Someone had divested him of his rucksack and therefore all of his weapons and his survival kit.

Groaning, Ward pushed himself into a sitting position, being careful of Skye's head as he did.

Suddenly he heard May stir. He crawled over to her as she woke up.

"What happened?" She asked.

"We got knocked out. I'm sure Fitz-Simmons could tell us how, but for now I have a bad feeling." Ward told her.

"Why?"

"We're in a clearing with six tree stumps that have backpacks on them and we've lost our weapons." He stated.

May, hearing Ward's words, started patting her body down to discover he was right.

Coulson and Fitz started to stir so Ward helped May to her feet and they walked over to them to explain what was going on.

"Not again!" Coulson exclaimed when he realised the situation they were in, patting his pockets down to locate his phone. When he found it he unlocked it, dialled a number and reaching a voicemail he decided to leave a very pointed message.

"You and me are going to have a very long conversation when I get out of this, and I'm warning you now: it's going to get loud!" Coulson almost shouted down the phone.

* * *

><p>Before long everyone was awake, realisation quickly dawning on them that Fury had set them up. Once they were all on their feet, they made their way over to the clearing and picked up a backpack each, knowing and somewhat fearing (in differing degrees) what was to come. They put the rucksacks on and they immediately heard the crackle of a tannoy.<p>

"Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D you may have got my colleagues game with insurmountable ease and emerged unscathed, but I will warn you now. My game is harder. Welcome back to release the hounds."

May, Ward, Skye, Fitz and Simmons turned to look at Coulson.

"This isn't my fault!" He protested.


	3. Chapter 3

"Do you think Fury knew he was sending us back into this game?" Simmons asked as they trudged their way down the path to the first task.

"I'm positive he did. Why else send us here?" May responded.

"Why us? Doesn't he know what we went through last time?" Fitz asked

"He probably thinks we're the only team that can get through it." Ward pointed out from the back of the group as he ducked a tree branch that had his name on it.

"Does he not remember that it nearly killed us all?" Skye asked, squeezing Ward's hand in reassurance.

"It didn't nearly kill us all, it nearly killed Ward." May added, getting hit round the back of the head with a tree branch from Ward for her trouble.

"At least we're all dressed sensibly this time." Ward told glancing sideways at Skye.

"We're headed down hill!" Coulson called from the front of the group.

The group headed downhill through the undergrowth and came out on the bank of a large lake. There was a large white arrow pointing out to, what looked like an island in the middle of the lake.

"Great. More water." Fitz moaned.

"I'm going to assume there's no boat." Ward said.

"Me too, but we ought to try find one." Coulson confirmed.

They spent a good ten minutes looking for a boat, but as they expected, they found nothing.

"So how do we get across?" Fitz asked paling.

"I guess we swim." May said.

She knew they were all thinking it, but knowing Fitz's fear of water they weren't willing to say it.

"No, no, no, no." Fitz repeated, backing away from the water's edge.

Coulson suddenly noticed Ward and Skye were missing and set off to find them.

"Hold it tight!" He heard Ward's voice drift through the trees. It sounded like he was breathing heavily.

"I can't! It's too big!" Skye responded, also breathing heavily.

Coulson stormed into the small clearing where he heard their voices coming from, ready to reprimand them. His plan was just to tell them off now and then discipline them properly when they got back on the 'bus.

When he got to them, he realised they weren't doing what he thought they were. Ward was heaving small tree trunks around while Skye was holding one end in the air, allowing Ward to tie them together using vines he pulled off other trees.

"What're you trying to do?" Coulson asked them curiously.

"Trying to build a raft. But _someone_ keeps dropping the poles." Ward explained.

"I only have small hands and they're far too big!" Skye complained earning a small chuckle off Coulson.

"Let me take those. You go help Ward." Coulson told her taking poles and holding one in each hand.

Twenty minutes later they had built a raft that would fit most of them on it. Ward took one end while Coulson took the other and, guided by Skye they carried it back to the others.

* * *

><p>"Where the <em>hell<em> have they gone?" May asked.

"We aren't supposed to disappear until after the challenges." Simmons pointed out. That was, after all. The idea of the game.

"Shhh. I hear something!" Fitz said.

May, looking in the direction that the sound Fitz heard, waved Fitz and Simmons into the bushes to hide, while she took up an offensive position.

She listened hard. There was something vaguely familiar about the crashing noise that was making its way towards them. She heard someone stumble and there were a couple of bursts of quiet laughter and a squeal.

May immediately relaxed. She would have recognised the squeal anywhere.

"Guy's its safe. It's the others." May said, jiggling the bushes to let Fitz and Simmons know it was ok to come out.

* * *

><p>Skye lead the way, pushing branches out of the way. She was concentrating that much on hazards in her eye line she didn't see the hole in the floor until she stumbled into it.<p>

"GAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Skye cried as she hit the ground.

Ward and Coulson laughed at her, before Coulson let his side of the raft down and helped her to her feet.

"You ok?" he asked her

"I'm ok. " Skye told him, brushing herself down from twigs and leaves.

"Ready to move?" he asked.

Skye nodded and Coulson went back to the raft, heaving it up so he could carry it again. Skye, still shaking from her trip led the way again, this time keeping an eye on the floor aswell as what was in front of her.

She eventually made it back to the clearing where the others were to see a really pissed of May stood in front of her, arms crossed across her chest. Fitz and Simmons were stood behind her. They also looked annoyed.

"What?" Skye asked.

"What do you mean what? You, Ward and Coulson disappear without saying anything and expect us not to notice. We need to stick together!" May spat at Skye, just as Coulson entered the clearing backwards carrying his end of the raft.

"What the hell is that?" May asked, softening a little.

"It's a raft. It's where we've been. We were building it to get across the lake to the island." Skye explained as Ward now entered the clearing. Skye could see May's rage dissipating.

Ward and Coulson carried the raft to the water and dropped it in.

"Is it safe?" Fitz asked concerned.

"Of course it is." Ward told him, climbing onto it. When he didn't fall off and the raft didn't collapse Skye went to join him. Simmons went next to show Fitz that there was nothing to worry about, but she climbed onto the raft on the one spot that unbalanced it and sent her, Skye and Ward tumbling into the water.

Coming back to the surface they climbed out of the lake, dripping wet.

"Every damn time!" Ward muttered as he tried to wring his shirt out.

"Well, the raft is safe, but we need to figure out how to get on it." Coulson said, grabbing hold of it so it didn't float away.

The team saw Ward head back into the forest and wondered if he had some leeches in places he would rather avoid. They were pleasantly surprised ten minutes later when he arrived with some more vines and tied the raft to the bank in as many places as he could.

This made the raft secure enough for them all to get onto it without falling off.

When all of them were safely on the raft (Fitz needed some gentle persuading followed by a number of threats), Ward untied the raft from the side and he and Coulson used the paddle they had fashioned to row them over to the island.


	4. Chapter 4

They made it the island without much incident, the biggest one being when Skye sneezed and nearly unseated everyone with the force of it.

As they approached the banking where they agreed it was safe to land, Coulson and Ward paddled in a way that would turn the raft around so that Ward could tie it to the bank with the vines so they could feel solid ground again.

One by one Ward helped everyone off the raft and Coulson led the way down the path indicated by the arrow.

The path was overgrown and the six of the tripped and stumbled until they saw a dark object loom in front of them.

"Don't even say it Fitz." May warned pointing at him as Fitz opened his mouth.

The team approached a large, decaying gloomy, boarded up house and searched for a way in, splitting into two teams, Ward, Simmons and Skye taking one side, May, Coulson and Fitz the other.

"I hate creepy houses." Fitz muttered to himself, while Coulson and May rolled their eyes.

They poked and prodded at the boarding on the house, but none of it gave way to reveal and entrance. Coulson suddenly disappeared from view.

"Coulson?" May called.

"I'm ok. I fell down a hole." Coulson called back, his voice muffled.

"Keep talking. I'll come and get you!" May called, pulling at Fitz's sleeve to indicate that he follow her.

"What do you want me to talk about? How you lied to me or about you have been avoiding my questions for a while?" Coulson said as a branch appeared in front of him to grip.

Coulson took the branch and placed his feet on the side of the hole and climbed/got pulled out of the hole he found himself in.

"I never lied to you." May told him in a flat voice before taking the lead.

* * *

><p>Ward now found himself alone with not one, but two nervous, jumpy women.<p>

"Will you two make yourselves useful and check for a way in?" Ward asked them as Skye and Simmons shrieked at one of the boards on the house creaking.

"Fine." Skye pouted and walked over to a board and pulled at it, withdrawing her hand almost immediately as a huge spider started crawling up her arm. She batted at her arm, squealing and jumping up and down on the spot.

Ward turned to look at her, saw the spider on her arm drop to the floor, but Skye was still batting at herself. He walked over to her and took her by the shoulders.

"Spider! Spider!" she cried as he shook her into looking at him.

"It's gone. You ok?"

Skye looked at Ward, breathing heavily and launched herself at him, burying her face into his chest before emitting a sob.

Ward put his arms around her and spun them both around so he could keep his eye on Simmons. Before he got her in his view he heard another scream and saw another giant spider fall off Simmons and run into the dying light. Ward shifted Skye to one side and extended his arm out to invite Simmons into the hug which she gladly accepted.

Ward embraced both women before extracting his arms from them.

"We need to move. I have a feeling none of these boards are gonna budge, so let's just scan for a hole." He said to them, earning a sigh of relief from the two girls.

Skye and Simmons nodded their acceptance, but would not let go of Ward.

He put his arms back around them and set off walking around the house, still searching for the allusive hole that would permit them to enter.

The three of them got around the back of the house, meeting Coulson, May and Fitz in the middle. They eyed the girls clinging to Ward and raised their eyebrows at him.

"Spiders." Ward told them shaking his head.

"Spiders?" Coulson questioned.

"One ran up my arm, then Simmons arm." Skye told him.

"One spider each and you're clinging to Ward for dear life?"

"They were really big spiders." Simmons said, finally letting go of Ward.

"Guy's is that a hole?" Fitz asked, pointing to a dark patch on the wall.

Coulson walked forward and pressed at it but Fitz was right, it was a hole for them to enter.

One by one they made their way through the hole to enter the first challenge. They emerged in a dimly lit corridor. Coulson looked at May and then at Ward. They were suspicious. This seemed too easy. May led the team down the corridor and Ward brought up the rear. He got halfway down the corridor before pausing and turning around to look behind him.

Skye, feeling Ward stop behind her turned to look back too.

"What's up?"

"I just had the feeling that someone was following us." Ward told her, creasing his brow.

"It better not be our clown friend." Skye said shuddering.

Ward stood still for another minute or two before he and Skye hurried after the others. As a team they searched through the house finding nothing but rooms with furniture until they came to the bathroom.

The room was lit a little more brightly than the others had been and there was blood and slime covering the walls.

What caught the agent's attention was the single bathtub in the centre of the room, absolutely crawling with scorpions and spiders.


	5. Chapter 5

"Do we have any instructions?" Simmons asked to try and get her mind off the bathtub full of crawling spiders and scorpions.

"It doesn't look like it. " May told them confirming their worst suspicions.

Coulson was inspecting a hole in the wall underneath a mirror. He couldn't see anything in the hole and, throwing caution to the wind, stuck his hand into it. It was just big enough for his arm to fit in it.

He kept his mouth shut as a familiar feeling slithered over his hands. He groped in the hole and found a button. He looked in the mirror as he pressed the button and saw Ward straighten up from the bathtub and look back out of the door into the hallway.

May looked at Ward and did the same.

Removing his arm from the hole, Coulson joined his two agents in the middle of the room.

"What's up?" he asked them.

"I heard something." May said.

"Me too. I felt someone following us earlier too." Ward told him.

"We better get out of here." Coulson said, looking at Skye and Simmons who were trying to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the tub.

"Do we have straws?" May asked Coulson and Ward, nodding at the tub.

"What is it with girls and spiders?" Ward asked, rolling up his wet sleeves and thrusting his hand into the tub.

"It's not the spiders I have a problem with." May told him, kicking at a scorpion that was threatening to crawl up her leg.

Ward groped around the bottom of the tub (he couldn't see through the mass of creepy crawlies) and found four bolts that were securing a box to the bottom of the bath.

A gong sounded.

"We need to find some spanners." Ward told them, withdrawing his arm.

"Alright people. Let's find this spanner and get out of here!" Coulson ordered his team.

Skye and Simmons quickly moved to the shelves closest to the door, Fitz and May went to look around the centre of the room and Coulson and Ward searched near the tub.

"It's nowhere. Are you sure we need one?" Simmons called.

"Yeah. There's bolt that need undoing." Ward called back as he looked under the tub again.

"Wait. Hang on." Coulson called, walking back to the hole he found, sticking his arm in it, locating the button and pressing it.

Several things happened at once.

A tile dropped off the wall with a smash, making everyone jump and Skye scream, and four more holes appeared in the corners of the room.

"Everyone grab a hole!" Coulson said, walking back to the tub with Ward and handed him the spanner.

Ward bent down into the tub and found the bolted box again. He used the spanner to disconnect the bolt, but it kept spinning.

"It's spinning. Is there any way to hold it from below?" Ward asked Coulson, who shot Ward a look of disgust before pressing his body under the tub and holding onto one of the bolts.

After checking which one Coulson was holding Ward made light work of the bolt, pulling the nut off it. The second he did, the lights went out, delving them all into pitch black.

"Try the holes" Coulson shouted from under the tub before Ward repeated it to the others as Coulson's voice was muffled.

Skye, Simmons, May and Fitz all stuck their arms into the holes in the walls.

"Ewwww. Gross!" Skye exclaimed as she felt around for the button, her hand enclosed in an all too familiar feeling.

They all reached their buttons at different times, Fitz being the one who managed to turn the lights back on. He let go and the room was in darkness once again. The meaning was clear. You had to keep hold of the button to keep the lights on.

Ward and Coulson started to work on the second bolt.

Ward felt that presence again, but wasn't in a position to look. He pulled the next nut off and the room was plunged into darkness once again.

"Stay here." Ward whispered to Coulson before withdrawing his arms from the tub and creeping over to the door.

Standing by it he could feel the presence over to his right, towards Skye. He followed the feeling and, in the dark, could just make out a shape in front of him. Silently he quickly wrapped his hands around the shape and forcefully moved them in opposite directions. The shape before him slumping to the ground as the lights came back on. This time by Simmons.

Skye looked behind her to come face to face with Ward. She hadn't heard him creep to her so she jumped slightly.

"I thought you were by the tub?" She asked, confused.

"I was." Ward told her looking down to the crumpled body in front of him before returning to work on the third bolt.

What he hadn't seen or sensed in the dark was the bloody axe that was about to be cleaved into Skye's skull.

The third bolt came off easily and the lights were turned on by May. The fourth bolt also came off easily and Ward had opened the box and closed his hands around the key before Skye could put the lights on.


	6. Chapter 6

The tannoy crackled.

"You completed that with relative ease, you gained a fifty-two metre head start. Choose your runner wisely."

The tannoy crackled off.

"I'll do it." May said knowing Fitz, Simmons and even Coulson would struggle to outrun the dogs at that distance.

"No. We need to keep you and Ward in here as long as possible. Especially if they're gonna try kill us all." Coulson said.

"I know. I also know you guys (looking at Coulson, Simmons and Fitz) have been working out in case we found ourselves, well _here_, again but you'd still struggle at that distance. Not to mention what we'll find in that damn cage. There could be another axe murderer for all we know." May pointed out.

"You're right. We need to make sure we stay safe in the cage." Coulson conceded.

The tannoy crackled again.

"Who is your chosen one?"

"I am." May called.

"That seemed like an easy call."

"Not as easy as you'd believe." Coulson told him

"Very well. Runner follow the white arrows when you exit the building, rest of you follow red."

"Ooo... white this time." Skye quipped, stepping over the body in front of her.

Coulson led the team out of the room, followed by Skye (who walked up front after she saw Ward tug on May's sleeve), Fitz and Simmons. Ward and May, more alert now than they had been so far in the game, brought up the rear.

"I would have run." Ward told her in a whisper.

"I know, but I chose to for the same reason as last time. You're needed in here more."

Ward raised his eyebrows at her.

"I'm not an idiot Ward, I know about Skye. And you seemed to calm Simmons down earlier too."

"I'm going to have to run last. There's no other choice here." Ward said, voicing his thoughts.

"It's the only way we're going to all get out of here alive." May confirmed.

One by one they climbed out of the hole in the wall and made their way over to the raft. It seemed both arrows were pointing back to the mainland.

They climbed on to the raft and Coulson and Ward started to paddle.

They made it back onto the bank of the mainland to find two arrows. One red, one white, pointing in different directions.

"This is where we say 'stay safe'." May said, looking in the direction her arrow was pointing.

"You too. We'll all get through this." Coulson promised.

May headed off after the white arrow while Coulson, Fitz, Simmons, Skye and Ward headed off after the red one.

* * *

><p>Senses on hyper alert May spun her head at every sound, pausing when she heard a twig snap behind her. Spinning, prepared to fight whatever was creeping up on her she was pleasantly surprised to find it was only a fox.<p>

She carried on towards where the dogs were, that focussed on the trees she didn't notice the ground beneath her start to decline. Losing her footing she tripped over a rock and tumbled the rest of the way down the hill, landing in a rather soft patch of greenery where she lay for a minute or two to get the breath that had been knocked out of her back.

That's when she heard it. A loud grumble in the sky:

_Thunder_.

"I will _kill_ Fury for this!" She thought as she hauled herself to her feet and carried on towards the kennels.

* * *

><p>"Great, now there's a thunderstorm." Fitz said sarcastically.<p>

"One roll of thunder doesn't make it a storm Fitz." Simmons replied.

Another growl of thunder finished that sentence for Simmons.

"Ok. So that one does." She admitted.

"We'll be ok, as long as we don't come across any..." Coulson started saying

A flash of lightening filled the sky as Coulson finished his sentence with "...lightening".

The team groaned.

* * *

><p>The snapping snarling dogs were jumping at the caged walls of their kennels trying to get to May. Remembering how Ward got past them last time she decided, once she had taken the bag of her back to test his theory.<p>

She waved it backwards and forwards in front of the dogs and found Ward was right. The dogs were, indeed trained to go for the bag first.

Armed with this knowledge, May opened the box marked '1' and took the piece out of it. Sensing that she had been watched she over exaggerated the motions of putting the item in the bag, when in fact she tucked the long thin item up her sleeve.

Straightening up May, with more confidence than she felt approached the gate. It was closer than she thought it should be, but she didn't have any time to measure it, for once she had taken her sprinters stance a crackle of the tannoy alerted her to what was about to happen.

"Release the hounds."


	7. Chapter 7

May ran as fast as her legs could carry her. But no matter how fast she ran, the dogs were snapping at her heels.

Feeling their hot breath she dropped her backpack and tried in vain to speed her running up.

The dogs jumped on the bag, quickly ripping it to shreds, before turning their attention back to May.

They managed to catch up to her, just as she got to the ladder and out of their reach.

Breathing a sigh of relief May climbed over the wall and down the hay on the other side. She made sure that she was alone in the cage before sitting on the hay bale and waiting.

That's when she felt the first drop of rain on her skin.

* * *

><p>The path they were trudging down was narrow. So narrow they had to walk in single file. Ward was now leading the group so he could fend off any attacks and Coulson, with Skye was doing the same at the back.<p>

Ward suddenly stopped underneath and arrow and held his arm out to stop Fitz from passing him.

"What's wrong?" Fitz asked Ward. Clearly he had sensed something.

"Oh God! Told tell me there's another axe person you're sensing!" Simmons wailed when she joined them.

"No. Worse." Ward said, pointing to the abundance of three leaved vines spreading out around them.

"Leaves? You're stopping us because of leaves?" Skye asked, peering over his shoulder.

"If you think they are just leaves feel free to touch one. I wouldn't recommend it though 'cause that's Poison Ivy."

Skye quickly removed her hand from the leaf she was about to touch.

"You sure?" She asked him.

"Leaves of three, leave them be." Ward told her.

"So how do we do this?" Coulson asked him.

"Very slowly and incredibly carefully. We need to leave a sizable gap between us in case one of us falls over. If you fall, you're on your own getting back up."

"After you great God of the Poison Ivy." Skye said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ward made sure his arms were covered and pulled his jacket further up towards his face. He turned to look at the others before stalking through the trail of poison. It was everywhere.

Simmons counted to 30 before setting off after him, mimicking his cover up manoeuvres.

Fitz, then Skye and Coulson copied Simmons and soon all five of them were carefully making their way through the growth.

They worked their way through it for five minutes before emerging in a clearing.

They stopped and stared at what was before them, not quite believing their eyes.

That's when the rain started.


	8. Chapter 8

They found themselves at the second task. It was set up so that between themselves and the key was a pool of mud. Ward and Coulson quickly glanced around the edges of the mud pit and saw that there was a fine webbing of wire, which would undoubtedly shock them should they try to go around it.

The intention was clear – they had to cross the mud pit.

"Ok, so this is going to sound like a really stupid question, but how do we cross?" Ward asked, looking over at Fitz and Simmons.

"I think it has something to do with those stone pillars." Simmons said, looking back at Ward, expecting him to try and jump.

"I'm not falling for that this time, especially not when it's mud."

Thats when Skye shrieked and stepped away from Coulson. There was another spider and it was crawling up his arm. He simply brushed it off and it scuttled away into the forest.

Skye, however, had managed to bash into two long planks of wood, which hit the ground with a crash, making everyone jump, and causing Simmons to let out a small squeal.

Fitz inspected the planks of wood and, looking at the stone pillars, walked placing his heel to his toe along the length of the plank.

"Is there any rope anywhere around?" he asked when he got to the end.

The five of them scrambled around looking for rope, which Skye eventually found hanging from a nearby tree.

"I've found it, but I'm going to need some help getting it down!" She said.

Ward appeared at her side and looked up to where she was pointing.

They looked at each other and Ward knelt to the floor allowing Skye to climb onto his shoulders. He stood up and Skye reached into the air, managing to grab hold of the end of the rope and pulled. When the rope had coiled onto the floor Skye climbed off Ward's shoulders and set her feet back onto the ground.

"What you thinking Fitz?" Coulson asked him.

"Those pillars seem to be the same length as those planks, which means we use them to get across." Fitz pointed out.

"Talk us through it Fitz." Ward told him.

"Well fist off we need to tie this rope around one end of a plank." Fitz said, throwing the rope to Ward, who nimbly and quickly tied it securely around one end of one of the planks.

"Alright, Ward, you're going to have to lift the plank, rope side in the air and line it up with one of the pillars on the first line. The rest of us will hold onto the rope and lower it across." Fitz told them.

Nodding in response, Ward proceeded to move the plank of wood and lifted it the way Fitz had instructed. He felt some of the weight lift off him and knew the rest of them had hold of the rope. He remained stood there and watched as they lowered the plank towards the pillar, until it slipped on the wet mud. Ward instinctively put his foot out and pushed it back to where it needed to be and kept his foot in place until the plank hit the pillar.

"What now?" Skye asked.

"Now we pick the other plank up and put it at a 90° angle to this one at the other end." Fitz instructed. As a group they picked up the second plank and made their way across to the first pillar. As it was only big enough for two of them Coulson and Fitz lowered the plank down while Simmons and Skye stood on the first plank with Ward bringing up the rear, waiting for Coulson to untie the rope to pass it to him.

When Ward had secured the rope to the first plank Skye and Simmons joined Coulson and Fitz on the second plank. Ward walked onto the pillar and, keeping his foot at the bottom of it, hoisted it into the air. When it was vertical, Coulson rushed forward to help Ward change the direction of the plank before they dropped it into the mud.

"Erm, Fitz..." Skye said, questioningly "The next pillar doesn't line up."

Fitz looked at what Skye was talking about.

"I've got it. We need to use the middle of this plank that we're standing on to place the next plank." They quickly moved the plank to where it needed to be and Ward and Skye made their way over to the next pillar.

"Fitz, What the hell do we do now? We have no more planks!" Ward told them, looking back at the others.

"You'll have to place the plank parallel to this one." Fitz told them, securing the string to the plank.

"Simmons, you better go across, me and Fitz aren't going to fit on a pillar with you too." Coulson told her, realising the pattern they were about to take.

Simmons scurried across the plank to where Ward and Skye were stood on the pillar. The second she cleared the plank Ward started pulling it up. When it was vertical the three of them, rather clumsily, managed to place it at a 90° to what it had previously been before lowering it down to the next pillar. Ward walked across and untied the rope, tied the end in a knot, coiled it and tossed it to Coulson.

Coulson and Fitz repeated the process with the second plank, bringing it down on the middle of the first.

"Has anyone noticed these planks are getting slippery?" Skye asked them.

"It's the rain. It makes wood slippery." Simmons explained

"In that case everyone take care." Coulson warned, as Ward hoisted the first plank and turned it 180° so that it would rest on the next line of pillars. He set off to the other side, with Skye and Simmons hot on his heels, but before he got there, he slipped on a particularly slippy point on the plank and went tumbling into the mud pit below.

Skye screamed and Simmons started panicking, just as Ward started sinking. Seeing he was in trouble, Coulson and Fitz raced forwards, grabbed him under his armpits and hauled him back onto the plank.

"WHAT did I just say?" Coulson demanded as Ward cautiously got to his feet, his entire body now brown with mud.

"Let's do this." Ward said heading over to the pillar with Skye, who was now laughing at him and Simmons while Coulson and Fitz headed back towards the previous plank.

Ward hauled the plank and put it 90° to where it had previously been, coiled up the rope, threw it to Coulson, who then tied the rope to the remaining plank and between him and Fitz pulled it up, turned it and rested it on the other one before joining the rest of the team. Ward then hauled that plank up, the team spun it 180° and rested it on a pillar.

They continued to work in this manner across the mud pit. When they were about three quarters of the way across they heard the gong of the gate moving. Speeding up so that they could get a better head start for Fitz or Simmons they charged ahead, nearly losing Skye and Fitz to what they now knew to be, sucking mud.

As Ward lay the last plank down onto the opposite bank he saw the key there, on some sort of podium, right in front of him.

He raced ahead and grabbed it before Coulson, the last member in the line of the team, had even hit the bank.

"I have it! I have the key!" he called.


	9. Chapter 9

"That looked like fun. Did you like my mud Agent Ward?" the voice crackled over the tannoy.

"Bite me." Ward replied.

"You have a 76 metre head start. You had better choose wisely."

Knowing he wouldn't be the one to run, Ward walked over to a rock and dipped behind it before stripping his clothes off.

"It's either me or Fitz" Simmons pointed out.

"Question is, which one of us is going to be of most use?"

"If you went you could start to build the pieces together!" Simmons told him.

"Yeah! Coz that went so well last time" Fitz retorted sarcastically.

"Enough. I agree with Fitz. There is no point in putting the pieces together until we're all done and we can dismantle the hay bales." Coulson said, putting an end to their argument "The bigger question is, who's going to be more use in here?"

"I think Fitz" Simmons said the same time Fitz said "Simmons."

"We don't know what we're going to face, so we can't answer that one." Ward said from behind the rock "If we had body parts then Simmons, if we're going to be faced with puzzles like the last one then Fitz."

"Have you made your mind up?" the voice asked.

"Fitz!" Ward called.

Four heads turned to face the rock he was behind.

"Very well then, Agent Fitz, please follow the white arrow, the rest of you, the red one."

Fitz, paling in the face, looked at the team.

"I'll be fine." He assured them.

"Of course you will." Simmons assured him, pulling him into a bone crushing hug.

"Well, I better go before he decides to release the hounds early or something." Fitz said, batting Simmons off him and setting off following the white arrows.

Coulson allowed his team to watch Fitz's retreating back, before waving his team around the rock where Ward was hiding.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he demanded, making Ward, who was wearing nothing but his boxers, jump.

"I was thinking that this is the point where the body parts start appearing, and we all know what Fitz is like with body parts." He explained, thrusting one of his legs through the corresponding one in his trousers.

Coulson's irritation ebbed away as he realised Ward's choice wasn't a rash decision.

Ward lost his balance putting his other foot in his pants leg and landed, face first in the puddle in front of him.

"Damn mud's like superglue." He said, turning his body over so he was sitting in the puddle trying to pry apart the bottom of the leg.

There was a large rip as Ward tore at the fabric, creating a new opening. He tossed his t-shirt to the side, knowing that he didn't have time to 'unglue' it and even if he had it was that wet and heavy it would just weigh him down.

"Alright, let's set off." He said, getting to his feet.

* * *

><p>"I will be alright, I will be alright, I will be alright, I will be alright." Fitz muttered to himself as he traipsed the overgrown path lit by white arrows.<p>

An owl hooted, making Fitz scream and jump out of his skin.

He stumbled over a raised tree root looking for the source of the hoot, but quickly stopped when he nearly walked head first into another patch of Poison Ivy.

He walked muttering his mantra for another ten minutes before he reached the barking of the dogs.

He paused before entering the kennels.

_*Flashback*_

"_Come on Fitz, you're nearly there!" Coulson shouted as Fitz ran as fast as he could._

_Fitz was relieved when his feet hit the rungs on the ladder and he started to climb. He looked down in time to see a snarling dog snap at his feet, catch his foot in its mouth and drag his shoe off._

_*End of Flashback*_

Smiling, Fitz bent down, made sure he shoes were on and tied tightly before he opened the gate that led him to the kennels and the source of his nightmares.

Shaking he walked over to the box marked 2. He took the key out of his pocket and undid it. He took the piece of metal that was in the bottom of the box. He took it out and placed it into the bag. He swung the bag back onto his back and set off towards the gate.

He took the position that he had been taught by Coulson, May and Ward and prepared to sprint for his life. He could feel the tension rising and took a couple of deep breaths.

"Release the hounds."

As soon as the gate was high enough for him to get under, Fitz ran. He felt a little calmer than he had last time, as he had prepared physically just in case he found himself doing this again. This soon disappeared as the dogs got closer to him.

"Come on Fitz! You're so close!" He heard May shout.

Looking up, he saw the ladder in front of him. He jumped up and tried to climb, but, yet again, a dog had hold of his foot.

"Not again!" Fitz grumbled as he wiggled his foot out of his tightly tied shoe.

Eventually his foot came free and the dog fell back to the ground, recovering quickly and starting to jump at him again, but Fitz was now too far out of its reach. He got to the top of the ladder and saw May's form waiting for him in the darkness.

"Gaahhhh!" he cried when he got closer to her, almost losing his grip and falling back down to the dogs.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: How many times do I have to tell you people... I. AM. NOT. EVIL... maybe a little sadistic at times but evil? PMSL!**

* * *

><p>"Why does it have to rain?" Skye complained, wiping her sopping hair out of her eyes.<p>

"Someone somewhere hates us." Coulson admitted, stepping in a puddle.

"I hope it's not assembling a rotting body again." Simmons said, sidestepping the puddle Coulson had stepped in.

"I doubt it will be. Every single one of these challenges has been new." Ward told her from the back through chattering teeth.

"You ok Ward?" Coulson shouted from the front.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Ward replied, teeth still chattering.

Skye took his hand and, even though they were both wet through, she could feel just how cold he was.

"If there is a chance to punch this git I would like the honour" Ward said, squeezing Skye's hand in reassurance.

"WOAH!" Coulson yelled from the front, yet again disappearing from view.

"What happened?" Ward shouted.

"Coulson slipped in the mud and has skidded down the hill on his butt." Simmons told him laughing.

Over the next five minutes Ward carefully led Skye and Simmons down the hill, to find Coulson laying in a muddy puddle at the bottom.

"Oowwww!" He groaned as Ward helped him to his feet.

"Tell me about it!" Ward chuckled, making Coulson laugh uncontrollably at the stupidity of sliding down a hill.

"It's a god job Ward sent Fitz away." Simmons said, pointing behind the two laughing men.

They sobered up quickly when they realised they were at another building.

"In Fitz's absence I will say it. Great, not another creepy building." Skye said, trying to lighten the mood a little as the air around them crackled with static as another roll of thunder growled across the sky.

"Let's get out of this rain shall we?" Coulson asked his remaining team members, offering his arm out for Simmons to take.

Simmons took Coulson's arm and the four of them walked towards the building. Unlike the previous building the way in was fairly obvious.

They walked through the door and found themselves in a dimly lit room. They chanced a quick look around it, and other than the pretty standard slime covering the walls the room was only furnished with a couple of tables and a chair.

"Whatever we have to do I don't think we do it in this room." Skye pointed out.

"It has to be in this room. There's no corridor leading out of here." Coulson retorted.

Ward ran his hand over what looked like a grate on the wall, except when he pushed it, it moved.

"Hey guys. I think I've found something." He called softly to the others tugging at the grate.

Skye and Coulson appeared by his side to help him remove it. The second they got one side off the wall Ward slammed it back.

"What did you do that for?" Coulson asked, getting his answer as something hit the other side of the grate with a thwack.

"How did you know?" Simmons asked as Coulson prepared to remove the grate while Ward positioned himself to deal with whatever came out of the tunnel.

"I heard it hit a join." Ward stated, nodding at Coulson that he was ready.

Coulson peeled the grate off the wall and Ward pounced.

It turns out that it was a snake that came hurtling down the tunnel.

"I guess we go up it." Coulson said.

"I guess we do. It's the only way out of the room." Ward agreed, climbing up into it.

Skye followed him, then Simmons, then Coulson.

At the end of the short, uphill climb Ward came to another grate. Pushing it he got a small electric shock, but it gave easily and hit the floor. He scrambled out and rolled onto the floor of a new room. One that was completely dark. He stood up and helped Skye, Simmons and Coulson out of the tunnel.

That's when four lights came on at the other side of the room, illuminating four chairs in a line and the words 'sit down' scrawled across the wall behind them in what looked like blood.

"I guess we have to do as it says." Simmons said, heading over and inspecting the chair for wires before sitting in it. The others also took their seats and waited for the other shoe to drop.

The wall that was now in front of them illuminated and showed a set of images for few seconds before going dark again. The lights in the room came on and the wall was a plain, sickly colour of beige with slime oozing down them, and it had a grid with letters across the top and numbers along the side.

"Do you want to play a game?" Ward muttered, before raising his voice "F3."

Coulson, Skye and Simmons looked at him confused, but their confusion was shortlived when an image appeared in the square Ward asked for.

"C9" Coulson guessed.

An image appeared in the square C9 and the two of them disappeared.

"Oh it's this game." Simmons said, brightening.

They called out a square, had a brief discussion over which one they wanted to match it to before calling it out too.

They got a shock the first time the two squares didn't match.

Some thick, red liquid was poured over their heads, covering them all head to toe.

"This had better not be blood!" Skye squealed, spitting it away from her mouth and rubbing her eyes.

They tried to get out of the chairs, but shackles quickly appeared and fastened them in.

Slowly the squares on the wall diminished and they were about two thirds of the way through when they heard the gong.

They started firing off coordinates almost too fast for the wall to comprehend, but they made it down to the last two squares, they were both revealed, and they didn't match.

"The key's got to be behind one of them. But which one?" Simmons asked panicking.

"It's completely irrelevant when we're _tied to chairs_!" Skye shrieked, also losing her head.

Ward looked across the two girls at Coulson. Their choice was simple: Choose the right one and get the key, or choose the wrong one, lose crucial metres and have another blood bath.

A6 or D5

Ward could see Coulson nodding at each one in turn.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and shouted: "D5"

He waited for the pour of liquid over his head, but none came. Instead, he felt his shackles loosen and he heard a dull clunk and splash to his left.

He broke free of his now loose restraints and raced over to the key.

"We have it!" He called.

"That was a lucky guess wasn't it. I'm pretty sure Coulson there was going to go for the other one. You have a lucky 80 metre head start."

"He was right. I was gonna go for the other one."

"I saw you trying to decide." Ward told him with a grin.

"That blood was vile."

"Is it real blood?"

"It sure smells like it."

"Enough Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. You have wasted time. If you cannot decide, I will chose for you."

"Who says we haven't made our minds up?" Ward asked.

"Very well, who is your choice?"

"Me." Simmons said. She knew the second that he had announced their distance.


	11. Chapter 11

_CRACK_

Simmons jumped at the sound and spun around feeling the adrenaline raging through her body.

There was nothing there.

"It's just your imagination Jemma, there is no need to panic." She muttered under herself.

A flash of lightening illuminated the sky and the rain poured down harder that it had been all evening. Thunder rolled almost immediately after the flash.

She stumbled through the overgrowth, splashing through puddles and narrowly avoiding low hanging branches that were almost invisible in the dark. When she tripped and fell over a rock she twisted her knee. Stopping and sitting to inspect her injuries on a larger rock nearby, Simmons realised she hadn't seen an arrow for a while.

* * *

><p>"I seriously hope it's not body parts." Coulson was saying as he, Skye and Ward made their way to the next challenge.<p>

They were scrambling up and over a collection of rocks. The rain was making them really, really slippy.

"Personally, I'm hoping there's no axe man creeping up on me." Skye told him.

"I'm hoping there are no clowns" Ward imputed, putting his hands up to prevent Skye from falling backwards onto his head.

"I'm sure we can expect something different this time around." Coulson told them, getting to the top of the rocks, swinging his legs up and making sure he wouldn't fall before hauling Skye and Ward up.

"Yeah, but what?" Skye pondered aloud.

"I don't know." Coulson admitted.

"I'm not really looking forward to finding out."

* * *

><p>"I am going to die!" Simmons thought as she hobbled her way back through down the path.<p>

The fall she had taken had hurt her knee and she could see it swelling up before her eyes. Not only that, she was completely lost.

"I swear I came down this way. Yes, I know I did. I remember thinking that tree looked like it had been cleaved in two with an axe." She muttered, thrashing her way towards it.

She traipsed through the woods looking for an arrow for a further five minutes before she saw one.

"I never thought I would be glad to see a large, bright, illuminated arrow that would send me on my way to a blood thirsty pack of dogs."

* * *

><p>"Ward. What's wrong?" Coulson asked as Ward stopped and stood upright, looking back into the woods.<p>

"How long have we been walking?" he asked.

"About twenty minutes."

"Has anyone heard him instruct the release of the dogs?" Ward asked.

"No." Coulson said quizzically.

"Isn't that a little weird?"

"Maybe she got lost." Skye told him, knowing what Simmons was like.

* * *

><p>"Oh thank God!" Simmons almost wept when she saw the dim lights of the kennels.<p>

Even though she knew that running from them would hurt her injured knee, she also knew once she had her ordeal would be almost over.

She walked towards the box labelled '3' and opened it with the key.

She pulled the item out, hoping it would be small enough to put in her pocket.

It wasn't.

Groaning slightly, Simmons put the item into her backpack and hobbled towards the gate.

"I'm glad I've been training with Ward." She thought as a voice announced:

"Release the hounds."

Immediatley Simmons ducked the rising gate and ran full pelt towards the wall and the smiling face she knew to be Fitz.

* * *

><p>"Release the hounds."<p>

Ward, Skye and Coulson looked at each other.

"See she must have just got lost." Skye repeated.

"Or come up against something more sinister." Ward said.

"Why'd you have to say that?" Coulson reprimanded as he saw the colour drain from Skye's face.

"Or, she simply got lost." Ward corrected.

Coulson led Skye and Ward into a clearing which was empty save for a solitary trap door.

* * *

><p>Simmons ran as fast as her injured body would allow. Risking a glance behind her she saw the first dog advance quickly.<p>

Screaming, she willed her body to run faster, ignoring the pain shooting from her knee down to her ankle and up her thigh.

"Come on Simmons!" She heard Fitz yell through the hammering of the rain.

She saw the sky light up around her and heard the thunder grumble at exactly the same time. She realised the storm was on top of her.

Before she knew it, Simmons was at the bottom of the ladder. She took the rungs in her hands and climbed out of the reach of the dogs.

But they weren't there.

Looking behind her she saw two dogs whimpering off to one side or the track, one brave dog was sniffing at the ground by what looked like a scorch mark while the rest of them had fled back to the kennel.

Shakily Simmons used her upper body strength to pull herself to the top where she was greeted by Fitz, who pulled her over the wall where Simmons promptly collapsed onto the hay and burst into tears.

It took five minutes for her to calm down and notice Fitz was deathly pale.

"I can't believe you're still alive." He told her, pulling her into a bone crushing hug.

"It could be worse."

"Yeah, you could be May right now!" Fitz laughed, helping Simmons to her feet and escorting her down the hay steps.

Once at the bottom Simmons looked at May and burst into laughter.


	12. Chapter 12

"I think we have no choice, we have to go down this tunnel." Coulson said as he, Ward and Skye were stood around the opening in the middle of the clearing.

"Seen as though there is a massive arrow above us pointing down, I'm going to say you're right." Ward agreed.

"How do we do this?" Skye asked nervously.

"I'll go first, then you and then Ward." Coulson told her after thinking about it for a second.

"Let's get this done." Ward said.

Coulson jumped down through the door and waited for a second to let his eyes adjust to the new feeling of dark.

"It's ok. It's safe." Coulson called up when he realised he was alone in the tunnel.

He took a few steps into the darkness to make room for Skye who dropped down next to him.

"Wow this is dark!" She exclaimed

"You'll get used to it. You're going to need to come over this way a little unless you'd rather be squashed." Coulson told her.

Skye headed towards the sound of Coulson's voice, and moved from the landing spot as Ward landed cat like in the exact spot she had just vacated.

"Ward?"

"I'm ok. This mud's starting to harden a little, even in the storm." He said, clawing at the mud still sticking to his skin.

Skye laughed at him.

"It's always you isn't it?" Coulson asked him.

"Seems to be. Shall we?" Ward asked, pointing down the tunnel.

Coulson led them down the dark, narrow tunnel, waving his hands in front of him to stop him walking into obstacles.

"oof!" he said as he hit his head on the ceiling as it lowered.

"Coulson?" Skye asked nervously, walking into the back of him and feeling Ward walk into the back of her.

"The ceiling lowers right about here. I just bashed my head on it."

"Thanks for the heads up!" Ward said from the back, making Skye burst into uncontrollable laughter.

Once she had calmed herself down she ducked and followed Coulson down the tunnel.

Before long the three of them were crawling, well, Coulson and Skye were crawling; Ward was slithering along like a snake using his feet and elbows to propel him forwards.

"I can see light!" Coulson called to the others.

"Yay! My hands are cramping!" Skye exclaimed in joy.

"My elbows are blistering." Ward told her from the back.

"Why are your elbows blistering?" Skye asked him.

"I'm a little taller than the two of you, I need a higher ceiling to crawl."

"WOAH!" Coulson yelled as he yet again disappeared from view as they approached the light.

"I'm going to guess there's a drop at the end." Skye said, giggling slightly at Coulson's unfortunate luck.

"Let me see." Ward said, tuggin on her shoe.

Skye tried to push herself up as far as she could and lifted one of her feet to allow Ward to crawl underneath her to see what was going on. Once he could see out of the hole Skye replaced her foot and straddled Ward's back to see out of it herself.

"Yeah, really really funny." Coulson said from the floor where he landed.

The hole wasn't that high off the ground, but if you weren't expecting the drop then you could do what Coulson did.

Skye took her weight off Ward and he slithered underneath her and out of the hole. Once he was on his feet he helped Coulson up and reached into the hole to grab Skye and pull her out.

"Well this is a new way to get into a creepy house." Skye said looking around her.

"I guess we find the door and follow the corridors until we find it."

"Eurgh. Is there a line I can get in to punch Fury?" Skye asked Coulson.

"If there isn't I'm making one." Ward agreed as he slipped on the ooze soaked tile and felt his shirtless body land against the dripping, ooze, grime and blood soaked walls.

"Come on. The sooner we get this done the quicker we can all have the satisfaction of hitting Fury." Coulson told them.

They found the door and walked through it and down the corridor.

They checked all the rooms they passed but they were all empty. They set off down the stairs at the end of the corridor and emerged in a warehouse type building. There was a glass box in the middle of the room and in it?

A body.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I hope you all had a great Christmas! This is my gift to you!**


	13. Chapter 13

"Is it alive?" Skye asked as they made their way cautiously towards it.

"In this place? Who knows?" Ward said to her.

The three of them arrived at the box. There seemed to be three pulley wheels that connected to the body in the cage.

"I'm going to guess left, right, forwards, backwards and up and down." Coulson suggested.

"That's far too easy." Ward replied, taking control of one of the pulleys. He turned it and immediately the body was lifted off the floor.

The key was clearly visible hanging from its neck.

"Skye, take that one, Coulson, the remaining one and we have to move it to the slot where we can grab the key."

"What slot?" Skye asked as she took hold of her pulley. It was cold to her touch and she didn't like it.

Ward and Coulson quickly scanned the box for a hole in it and found one near in the middle on the opposite side.

Ward let go of his pulley and the body hit the floor with a sickening thump.

"I guess this means we can't let go." He said as he retook the pulley and hefted the body off the floor.

"Great, just what I wanted. An ice cold handle with God only knows what covering it and I can't let go." Skye moaned.

They started moving the body to the gap where they could reach in and grab the key when suddenly the lights went out.

"Not this again?" Coulson said.

"No one move." Ward warned them.

The lights came back on and they all looked around. They were, thankfully still both alone and alive.

The gong went.

They were now on the clock.

The three of them began quickly spinning their pulley wheels to try and get the best head start for Coulson. Suddenly the body dropped to the floor.

Skye and Coulson shot Ward a glance to find him being dragged away from the cage by three people dressed as Zombies.

Skye knew they weren't real when one of them attacked him with a Tazer.

She knew they had to get the body to the right height and fast, so she looped one of her feet into her pulley to keep into position, hopped towards Ward's pulley and stretched as far as she could to turn the wheel.

She knew Coulson would have very little time to get the key. Once he let go of his pulley the body might move and the key disappear.

Once it was at the right height Skye felt a presence behind her and looked over her shoulder. Another zombie person was approaching her and was holding a knife.

She saw two hands wrap themselves around its neck and the zombie crumpled to the floor in a heap, revealing a rather bloodied Ward behind it.

"Ward! Get that pulley!" Coulson shouted from the other side of the cage.

Ward took hold of the pulley and negotiated the body back to the correct place for Coulson to reach in and grab the key.

Just as his fingers closed around the key the body sprung to life and wrapped its hand around Coulson's wrist preventing him from removing the key from the body, or his hand from the cage.

Ward rushed to his aid, reached in and broke the fingers of the body, making it wail in pain before Skye let go of her pulleys and it hit the floor in a heap.

"We have it! We have the key!" Coulson called.

"Congratulations. I thought Agent's Ward and Skye were dead on that round. You have a sixty three metre head start. You have ten seconds to decide."

"We usually get sixty!" Ward said, wasting time.

"Who have you chosen?"

"Me." Coulson said, not entirely confident that this was the right move as Ward was looking worse by the second.

"Very well. You know the drill by now."

The three of them walked back down the corridor and climbed back into the tunnel. They made their way down it in silence and no one spoke until they were back in the cold, wet night air.

"Take care, don't die and don't leave Skye on her own this time!" Coulson said, hugging Skye and clapping Ward on the back.

"You too. Take care on the trip. I have a feeling they haven't been as safe as last time." Ward said in return.

Coulson nodded and headed into the night.

"You look like hell." Skye said to Ward as she watched Coulson's retreating back.

"I got a beatdown. I'll live."

"You're bleeding."

"We haven't got time. We need to keep moving."

"You're shivering!"

"I have very few clothes on and the ones I do are cold and wet and not to mention muddy as hell and have been for hours. It's also cold and raining." Ward pointed out to her.

"I don't like it."

"Well sweetheart, there is nothing you can do about it right now." He said taking her hand and leading her towards her final challenge.


	14. Chapter 14

"I need to slow down. I'll be exhausted by the time I reach the dogs if I keep going at this pace." Coulson thought to himself as he power walked towards the kennels.

So Coulson slowed his pace to a crawling speed. He spent the next five minutes walking at this speed before he stopped at a large tree. The arrow he was following, yet again pointed down into a hole.

"I don't like this, but what choice do I have?" he thought as he swung his legs into the hole and jumped down into it.

There was another tunnel, but this one was tall enough and wide enough for him to comfortably walk down it, and it was dimly lit with phosphorescence on the walls.

Taking a deep breath Coulson steadied his nerves and headed down the tunnel. He didn't make it very far when he heard a creaking above him and looked up in time to see a bucketful of foul smelling green ooze get upturned on him.

He had no time to react.

The ooze hit him as hard as a waterfall knocking him to the ground and made the floor or the tunnel slippery.

He wiped the ooze out of his eyes and away from his mouth before gripping onto the rugged rock that made the side of the tunnel and hauling himself to his feet.

Hesitantly Coulson stepped forwards and immediately he felt his legs slide in opposite directions, forcing him to take hold of the wall again for support. When he regained his balance, he set off down the tunnel, keeping hold of the wall so he didn't fall. Once he was clear of the ooze on the floor he let go of the wall, only gripping it again when he slipped on a wet patch of floor.

He was still walking at a crawl.

Coulson could now see daylight up ahead, streaming in through the ceiling, illuminating a small ladder he would have to climb to get out of there.

Suddenly a clanking sound filled the tunnel. Coulson spun his body all around trying to find the source of it.

He couldn't.

Deciding it would be safer to get to the dogs he took three quick steps forwards before being engulfed in white floating feathers.

"Greeeaattt." He groaned, once again clearing his eyes and mouth.

He hurried forward to the ladder and swiftly climbed it, breathing a sigh of relief when the rain hit him and divested him of some of the looser feathers.

Coulson saw he was now right outside the door to the kennels, so he pushed it open and went to find box number '4'.

* * *

><p>"So you're telling me, whatever happens next, I am running?" Skye asked Ward, wondering what had made this a predetermined choice.<p>

"It was decided when May went first. Besides, I'd rather not get into Coulson's bad books again. Not after last time."

"What did he do?"

"Well, he shouted at me, threatened me, and do you remember that 'errand' he sent me on?"

"The one that nearly killed you?"

"Yeah. Like I said. It's not worth the wrath of Coulson."

Skye laughed and took his hand.

The two of them set off following their arrow and found themselves walking deeper and deeper into the woods, only pausing when they heard the blood chilling announcement:

"Release the Hounds."

"Hey. At least he made it there safely." Ward said

"What do you mean?"

"Well we reckon Simmons got lost, and I had wondered if we would be punished for taking out those guys."

Skye paled.

"Like I said, at least he made it safely."

* * *

><p>The gate started moving and Coulson set off from his sprinters start. He could see Fitz and Simmons ahead of him and thought of them instead of his not so brilliant head start.<p>

He powered his legs as fast as they could carry him, thankful he had changed out of his suit for their expedition.

He was also thankful for ooze.

It smelt so vile the dogs were reluctant to chase him, so Coulson slowed off his top pace for a while and reached the ladder in plenty of time, noticing the scorch mark on the ground as he did.

Once he climbed the ladder he was greeted by two pairs of eager hands pulling him over the wall.

"Where's May?" Coulson asked, worried she hadn't made it.

"Skulking in a corner, trying to wash herself down with a flow of water out of a tree."

Coulson headed to the corner where Fitz had pointed May was and recoiled in shock.

"May, I need that impromptu shower." He said, pulling at a feather that was tickling his neck.

* * *

><p>"Well this is it, me and you and probably another chainsaw clown." Ward teased Skye as they stumbled through the woods.<p>

"Don't. I had nightmares about that for a week."

"I know. You managed to break my nose remember."

"I hope it's not body parts either. I think I'd be sick if it was."

There was a big bright red arrow in front of them, indicating a change in direction. They took it and found themselves on the bank of a river.

"I guess we use those ropes to cross?" Skye asked him, pointing at the two ropes spanning the rushing water.

"Just like last time."

"Together?"

"Is there any other way?"

Ward helped Skye onto the ropes and after making sure her feet were safely on the bottom one and that she had a firm grip on the top one, he climbed up next to her.

Slowly they made their way across the ropes to the other side of the river and followed the arrow that was there waiting for them.

They made their way through the now dense forest, climbing over boulders and fallen tree trunks, before Ward saw something that made him shiver.

It was a bright illuminated sign over a one storey, crumbling building that read 'Insane Asylum'

"Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to be good?" he mumbled as he tugged on Skye's hand and led her towards the building.


	15. Chapter 15

"I don't like this. I don't like this at all." Skye muttered as Ward led her down a dimly lit corridor and into a room which contained ten sets of bunk beds, some of them complete with skeletons.

"It'll be alright, just as long as we stick together." He told her.

"I hope to god those aren't real."

"Just tell yourself they're made of plastic and you'll be fine."

"We need to find a clue on what we're doing here."

Ward dropped Skye's hand and went searching along one side of the room, while Skye searched along the other.

They met at a dresser along the other side of the room and found an old piece of parchment telling them to 'take a seat. The doctor with be with you shortly'.

Skye sat on the end of one of the bunk beds while Ward continued to wander around the room. He came to a door with a sign above it. He couldn't read what it said, but he tried the door.

It was stuck.

No matter what he did or tried the door wouldn't move, so he went to join Skye, sitting on the bed next to her and wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her into him to comfort her.

They were sat there for what felt like a lifetime when the sign above the door illuminated with the word 'enter' and the door opened with a click.

"Come on. The sooner we do this the sooner it will be over." Ward said to her, helping her get up off the bed.

The two of them headed through the door and found themselves in what looked to be a doctor's office, except it was dirty, slimy and had seven locked boxes around the room on three walls and one long cabinet spanning the other one.

Skye walked over to one of the locked boxes.

"The code to release me can be located in the left hemisphere." She recited.

"The left hemisphere?" Ward asked, joining her.

"I thought the hemispheres were North and South?" she asked.

Ward suddenly caught sight of a pickled brain in a jar and swallowed, fearing what was about to happen.

"The world isn't the only thing that has hemispheres Skye."

Skye looked at him and he nodded to the pickled brain.

"Great. Body parts!" She said, walking over to it and inspecting it closely.

"Yeah, but I don't think it would be that easy." He said, walking over to the one place that neither of them had looked yet.

He opened the cabinet door to reveal six brains on plates.

"Skye, I think you better come here." He called across the room.

She made her way over to him and took in the brains.

"We have to look in them to find a code to open those boxes?" Skye asked, even though she was pretty sure of the answer.

"I guess so, but it still seems too easy."

"You mean there's another shoe to drop."

Ward reached forward and prodded at one of the brains with his finger. Immediately a wave of blood poured out of the cabinet and covered the two agents.

"I guess the other shoe just dropped!" Skye called as the wave of blood forced them into the opposite wall, while it covered everything in its wake.

Skye took one step towards the brains and fell face first. Ward caught her before losing his footing and landing on his bum with a splash of blood, forcing Skye down with him.

He looked at Skye in alarm as the room started tilting.

"Now the other shoe just dropped!" Ward said to her, struggling to his feet and sliding across the room.

The gong went.

Using the boxes and tables he hauled himself up the slippery slope to the cabinet with the brains. Once he had got there he wrapped his hands in the cloth covering the bottom of it picked up each brain in turn and throwing them down to Skye so she could go through them and find the code. Once he had thrown her the last brain he let go of the cloth and slid back down to her.

Skye had only managed to tear open two of the six, so Ward picked on up and tore into its left hemisphere.

Finding nothing he reached for his second brain and tore into it.

"I have it. The code is 6563."

"You take that side, I'll take this one." Skye told him, slipping to her feet and making her way around to the boxes. She would need to climb to reach the furthest one. Ward set off for the mirror image of the boxes on the opposite wall.

They opened the boxes quickly, their fingers struggling to turn the dials of the locks.

Ward had reached his third box and he turned to look at Skye who had let out a squeal and hit the wall with a thump. He turned back to the box and managed to get it open.

"It's the key! I have the key!" He called as Skye managed to get to her feet again before promptly slipping and hitting the floor.

The blood stopped pouring and the room righted itself back into its original position again.

Ward walked over to Skye very cautiously as the floor was still slippy. He helped her to the door and led her back out into the room with the bunk beds.

"You'll be ok." He whispered before capturing her lips with his.

"Ah! Young love. It makes me sick. You have a sixty nine metre head start. You have five seconds."

"We don't need it. I'm going." Skye announced.

"Then follow the white arrows young lady. Agent Ward, the red ones."


	16. Chapter 16

"Take care." Skye said to Ward outside of the Insane Asylum.

"I will." He promised, giving her another kiss before letting her go and watching her as she walked away.

* * *

><p>For the second time Skye walked away from Ward feeling confused. This time it wasn't him kissing her that had confused her. It was what the game master had said to them.<p>

"I'm not in love with Ward" She said to herself as she stumbled her way through the forest, trying her best to follow the giant white illuminated arrows.

She walked straight past one and found herself in a hedge maze.

Skye navigated herself around the maze, trying her best to focus on the task at hand, rather than her feelings for Ward.

This was proving to be a lot more complicated than she realised. Her mind was clouded by not only his kiss, but those words.

Skye found herself face to face with a hedge.

She had hit a dead end.

Crying out in frustration, Skye spun around and headed back the way she had come.

Three wrong turns and two dead ends later Skye found herself in the centre of the maze.

"I am halfway there." She thought, heading forwards into the second half of the maze.

Twenty minutes later Skye breathed a sigh of relief when she saw an exit ahead of her, only to discover that it was where she had entered the maze.

"Goddamn it!" She screamed into the night before she turned and headed back into the maze.

* * *

><p>"She's taking a while" Ward thought as he headed towards the final challenge.<p>

He had been waiting for the inevitable mantra of 'release the hounds' but it hadn't come and he was getting worried that something had happened to her.

His thoughts, like Skye's were on what the game master had said to them.

He wasn't in love with Skye. He couldn't be. He knew he never felt emotions and therefore he reasoned he couldn't be in love with her.

His thought changed back to his current situation.

Skye clearly hadn't made it to the kennels yet and there was someone or something following him.

* * *

><p>As Skye made her way through the maze she snapped branches of the hedges so that she could tell if she had already been down a passage. Using this method she only had to backtrack once before making it back to the centre of the maze.<p>

"At least the rain has stopped." She thought as the splashed through the mud.

Looking around her she only saw one way out of there so that's the way she went. Another five minutes later she emerged from the exit of the maze and found herself under an arrow that was pointing away from them.

"Thank God I am out of there" She thought as she followed the direction the arrow was pointing.

Before long she could hear the sounds of the dogs barking in their kennels, bringing back the stark reality that she still had a lot to do. She pushed the door open and located the box labelled '5'.

She opened the box and took out the object within it and, as her pockets were slippery with blood and quite possibly brain matter she put the object in her back pack.

She stood up and turned to face the gate, slipping in her shoes. Before she ran and fell over wearing them she elected to take them off.

She was about to throw them to one side when she remembered the dogs chasing her. She approached the gates with a shoe in each hand.

She ducked into a sprinters start and waited.

"Release the Hounds".

* * *

><p>"Oh thank God she's made it!" Ward thought, letting out a sigh of relief. He came face to face with a thirty foot high brick wall which he tried to look around.<p>

He found the edge of the wall and tried to go around it, but the second he stepped off the path to do so he was caught by a net of wire webbing that sent a jolt of electricity through him, knocking him backwards and to the floor.

"Great. I have to climb over it." He grumbled, getting to his feet.

* * *

><p>"RUN SKYE!" Coulson yelled as she ran towards the wall.<p>

Skye didn't need to be told to run. Being chased by a pack of dogs would tend to cause that reaction in most people.

She could feel the heat of the dogs' breath on the back of her legs and she threw one of her shoes. The dog immediately pounced on it and shredded it within minutes. Skye didn't look at it but continued to run towards Coulson. She could feel another dog on her and she threw her second shoe to distract it. She reached the ladder and scrambled up as fast as she could, her wet bloodied hands slipping on the rungs and her wet muddied feet feeling like ice against the cold metal.

Coulson could see her difficulty and reached down a hand to help her.

He pulled her over the wall and helped her down the stairs of hay.

She got to the bottom to find May, Fitz and Simmons stood in a line, arms folded across their chest, staring at her.

"What?" she asked.

"What?" Fitz repeated, his tone of voice indicating she should know what.

"I know I'm covered in blood, but seriously? Is it that bad?" Skye asked looking at her body.

"Coulson was worse, he turned up covered in feathers. What we want to know is how long you have been in love with Ward?" Simmons asked her.

"I, well, I don't," Skye stammered before looking at the sceptical faces in front of her. "I guess you guys heard that."

"How long?" Fitz asked her.

"Since we were alone the last time we were in here." Skye finally admitted.


	17. Chapter 17

"I am going to kill Fury if I make it out of this." Ward thought as he slipped off the wall towards the ground, catching himself at the last minutes and slicing a wound into his left bicep on the rough brick wall.

He slowly scaled the wall, being careful not to repeat falling off, which was difficult due to the fact that he was still covered in blood, both from the previous challenge and from the wound to his arm.

He made it to the top of the wall and swung himself over it, making sure he had a good grip to stop himself falling.

To Ward's horror, the wall was rendered smooth and finding somewhere for his hands and feet was impossible.

Realising his only way down was to jump; Ward looked down and readied himself for the hard landing he was about to experience.

"I am so glad I insisted Skye go already." He thought as he positioned his feet, pushed against the wall and let go with his hands.

Ward prepared himself to land on the hard ground, and was nearly unseated when the ground turned out to be soft and gloopy.

"Great. More mud." Ward groaned as he landed up to his waist in a mud pit, before hauling himself out of it.

When he was out of the mud pit Ward realised he had lost one of his shoes, so he took the other one off and left it there. Getting to his feet he set off in the direction of the shack he could see at the end of the path.

Ward searched around for his instructions. He found everything BUT the instructions he would need for the last task, including some caged rats.

He shuddered and went back outside. He found a storm drain that was open and waiting for him. Ward tore a strip of fabric off the bottom of his trousers and wrapped it around his arm, tying it with his teeth before dropping to his knees and crawling into the drain.

He scrambled through the grate and came out into a Perspex box with a lock.

"Great!" Ward said, scrambling around the bottom of the box to locate a key.

He felt his leg scrape on something that caught on the bottom of his trousers. As he moved to disconnect his trousers he felt the fabric tear and a cold breeze filter its way up his leg.

Ward managed to wriggle backwards and found a key hanging on the hook.

Wriggling his arms free, Ward reached up and took the key and made his way back to the door. He inserted the key and the lock turned, opening the Perspex door allowing him access to the next chamber.

Once he was in it the door slammed shut behind him. Ward realised that there were ruts down each side of the tunnel. He spotted something at the other end. The key to the next door.

Before he could get it two doors opened and the box Ward was in was quickly filled with rats.

They crawled over the ruts in the box and quickly hid the key from view. Taking a deep breath Ward delved his hands into their midst and felt around for the key.

He felt it and batting the rats off his arms he lifted his hand, unlocked the next door and crawled through into it, slamming the door to keep the rats in the previous chamber.

This one was smaller to a point Ward had to curl up in order to move around.

The gong went.

Rather than panic Ward assessed his position.

All he knew at this rate was that he was in a small empty box. There was no key to the next door.

Suddenly a hole appeared in the ceiling of this and rained maggots down on him. He felt something heavy land on his knee and he started rummaging through them for the key.

He found it quickly and opened the next door emerging in a slightly bigger box. From here he could still see the rats scampering around and the maggots crawling over each other.

_Hissssssssss_

Ward's blood ran cold as he felt the cold, smooth skin of the snake slither over his bare leg. He remained silent and still, knowing any sudden move could cause the snake to attack. He felt it slither up his body and over his shoulder feeling something cold and hard bouncing along his skin behind the snake. It then appeared in his peripheral vision and Ward saw a key. It was different to the other keys he had seen and used, so when the snake had cleared his body he lifted his hand and caught the key, tugging it away from the snake.

There was no lock for him to put it in to.

"I have it. I have the key!" Ward called, coughing when he accidentally inhaled the sawdust from the floor.

"Well done Agent Ward. You got through that far quicker than I anticipated. You know the drill by now."

"Yeah. I know the drill. How the hell do I get out of here?" Ward complained, just as a door in the outer edge of the box opened revealing a hole for Ward to shimmy down.

He made it halfway down the tunnel and could see daylight when he felt the intact leg of his trousers catch on a nail and rip up to the top of his thigh. He shimmied back down the tunnel and inspected the nail that was sticking out with a clump of fabric from the leg of his trousers.

There was no key, just a nail.

He continued to the end of the tunnel and found he was face to face with a grate. He pushed at it and it fell away easily. He rolled out of the opening into the freezing cold night air.

It had started raining again.

Ward looked down to his trousers. One leg was almost gone and the other was split as far as his thigh. He also didn't realise that he had caught his actual leg on the nail and it was now weeping blood.

He pulled the remains of his trousers off, reasoning that they would provide a better target for the dogs and may slow him down and headed out into the woods. All he was wearing now was a pair of boxers and blood, mud and slime in varying quantities.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Happy New Year! I do hope 2015 brings you all everything you want in life! Here's a New Year's treat for you - another Chapter!**

* * *

><p>Ward set off towards the kennels, wondering how much of a head start he had as the game master hadn't actually told him. His senses were on hyper alert.<p>

There was a snap of a breaking twig behind him and jumped, spinning to face whatever had caused it.

He laughed when he saw a fox slink away, eyes staring at him like glowing orbs.

Ward tried to calm his heart rate down, but as he was alone in a forest with no clothes bar his boxers on and people having spent the night trying to kill him and the team it proved more difficult than usual.

He reached a clearing and found a large white arrow pointing to his left. He looked down the path and saw it was clear and well lit.

He swore that he could already hear the dogs barking at him.

"I must be getting close" He thought taking the route indicated.

He tripped on a rock and cursing loudly hobbled over to a fallen tree trunk to inspect the damage. He felt his big toe and realised it was bleeding.

"Must have torn the nail." He surmised, heaving his tired aching body to his feet and continuing towards the kennels.

* * *

><p>Skye heard the dogs barking and scrambled up the hay bales to see how well Ward had done. She was surprised when the gate hardly moved. She saw him slump through the gate in the kennels and raised her eyelids when she realised he was only wearing his boxers.<p>

"Coulson, you better come and see this. Something's wrong." She called, realising Ward's movements lacked their usual finesse.

Coulson scrambled up to her side and was forced into looking twice at Ward's clothes situation.

"I swear he was wearing pants when I left him." Skye told him, interpreting the look he was giving her.

"It looks like he's hurt." Simmons said, keeping her voice neutral as she glanced over his body. She had seen it before, but never ceased to be amazed at the carefully sculpted muscles.

"How could he get hurt?" Fitz asked sceptically.

"Axe Man." Simmons reminded him.

"Tazers and knives." Coulson informed him. He hadn't told them that there had been another attempt on their lives.

"Where are his clothes?" Fitz asked.

"I can't watch." Skye whimpered as she watched Ward take his position behind the gate.

She turned her back and sat on the hay. Coulson reached down and placed a hand on his shoulder to reassure her.

"He'll be fine. He's got a good head start." He reminded her.

"Release the hounds."

Skye paled and gripped Coulson's hand.

* * *

><p>Ward ran as fast as his feet would allow. He was sure he was running faster than he had ever run before, primarily due to his lack of clothing and shoes. Unfortunately for him, this time he had no option but to put the object in the backpack he was carrying.<p>

He could feel the dogs catching up to him.

He was twenty feet from the ladder.

Fifteen.

Ten.

Five.

Throwing caution to the wind Ward threw his body forwards and gripped the ladder. The second his fingers curled around the rungs he scrambled out of the reach of the snapping jaws and paused to get his breath.

* * *

><p>"Fitz!" Coulson cried as he looked over the wall to assess Ward.<p>

He could see Ward clinging to the rungs before seeing a hazy look creep into his eyes. Coulson lunged forwards and took hold of one of Ward's armpits. Fitz, seeing Coulson's movements, lunged for the other one and between them they dragged the dead weight that had become Ward's body over the wall, dropping him onto the hay bales and scraping his knees and legs in the process.

"You ok?" Coulson asked him.

All Ward could do was nod.

"What happened to your clothes?" Fitz asked him.

"Lost my shirts on that first mud pit I fell into. Lost my shoes on the second after I had to scale a wall and I lost my pants crawling through a series of tunnels that had nails sticking out of them, which is how I got this." Ward explained, indicating the long, scabbed over line down his leg.

"You sure you're ok?" Skye asked, biting her nails.

Ward hauled himself to his feet once again and slowly and awkwardly climbed down to the floor, saw May and promptly fell back into the hay.

"May. What the hell happened?"

"I'm going to guess its Poison Ivy." Simmons told him while May gave her an evil stare while scratching at the rash that had spread across her face.

"Oh May didn't you know leaves of three let them be?" he asked her.

"Oh I know alright, but I fell down the hill and landed in it. Not exactly able to avoid it."

Ward laughed.

"Alright. We all made it over the wall and we all have our pieces. So Fitz, Skye and I will dismantle the hay stacks," A sneeze from Ward interrupted Coulson's instructions. "Miss Contageous will stay out of the way and Simmons can check Ward over."

"I'm fine." Ward protested before sneezing again.

"No. You're not. You're covered in blood."

"It's not mine." Ward told her.

"Thats why you have a bandage on your arm." Simmons told him, prodding the arm he had injured during his task.

Simmons dragged Ward over to the edge of the cage and forced him under the torrent of water that was still running down off one of the trees and helped him wipe away the blood slime and ooze from his body so she could inspect his wounds closer.

"So you and Skye?" she asked him as she rubbed a stubborn bit of mud on his shoulder.

"I don't know what you mean?" Ward said, but Simmons could feel his muscles tense under her fingers.

"We all heard, and Skye pretty much admitted it."

Ward, taking a deep breath, finally relaxed enough to respond.

"So you know."

"Mhmph! Now, I've got you as clean as I can with the lack of facilities we have, but you're clean enough for me to see to you."

She rescued a hay bale from Coulson and forced Ward to sit on it. She looked at his arm and his foot and found a clean tissue to dress the wounds and tore a vine off the side of the cage to secure it.

Skye, Fitz and Coulson made short work of the hay bales and had located all of the pieces to the puzzle. They also uncovered the cog mechanism that they would need to insert the item into once Fitz had put it together.

Skye approached Ward and sat next to him on the bale.

"Are you sure you're alright. I mean, you're practically naked and it's been raining most of the night."

Ward had another sneezing fit before replying "I'm fine."

Skye put her hand on his knee and squeezed it as Fitz announced that the object was ready to be placed in the mechanism.

"Anyone want to do the honours?" Coulson asked.

When none of his team stepped forwards Coulson took the object off Fitz, jumped down into the hole and placed it in the obvious space available.

Ward helped him out of the hole and the team felt the immediate shake of the ground.

When there was no slamming shut of their cage Ward looked at May and they both realised the same thing at the same time.

"Everyone HOLD ON!" May shouted, indicating that they should all run to the sides of the cage.


	19. Chapter 19

The ground shook again and Ward and May shepherded everyone to the sides of the cage and told them to hold tight.

Just as Ward and May made it the side of the cage the floor beneath them shuddered and opened downwards from the middle. May jumped at the side of the cage but was too far away from it. Ward managed to cling on with one hand, while catching May with the other. She clung onto him for dear life, the floor to the cage now completely disappeared.

Ward groaned at May's weight pulling on his injured arm.

May heard the groan, saw the makeshift bandage and saw the blood starting to trickle down his arm. She used her free arm and wrapped it around his waist.

Once he felt May's weight shift and secure around his waist Ward let go of her and reached up for one of the bars of the cage.

Once he had a firm grip on the bottom edge of the cage he felt May's face slide against his chest as she heaved herself up, using his body as a climbing frame.

May wrapped her arms around his neck as she climbed.

Suddenly the cage juddered violently and stopped. Ward wrapped his legs around May's waist to stop her from falling off him.

"You better not let go." She grumbled at him while they were swinging off the cage.

"You better move soon or I just might." Ward warned her, feeling his grip slacken on the bars. He tried to tighten it but found he didn't have the strength to.

He released her waist and May started climbing again. She made it as far as his shoulders before she accidentally hit him with her knee in the ribs, winding him and causing him to lose his grip completely.

Ward heard Skye and Simmons scream as he and May fell into the dark black oblivion underneath them.

* * *

><p>"WARD!" Skye screamed, about to let go of the cage and follow Ward and May.<p>

"Don't you dare Skye. We have no idea what's down there!" Coulson shouted back.

"I think we're about to find out." Fitz told them as the cage shuddered again and started to descend into the blackness.

"Hold on everyone. And keep your eyes peeled!" Coulson told them

* * *

><p>"AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!" May and Ward cried as they flew down the side of the tunnel they were in.<p>

From the top it looked like it headed straight down, but sliding down it Ward realised that there was a slight angle to it.

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU LET GO?" May screamed as they hit a bend.

"WHY DID YOU HAVE TO KNEE ME?" Ward replied, hitting the wall of the tunnel and flipping over so he was now flying down it on his stomach and feet first, while May was still on her back but heading down head first.

* * *

><p>"Oh I don't like this!" Simmons squealed as the cage slowly descended.<p>

"Always look on the bright side of life!" Fitz muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

"Fitz, we're in a cage that's lowering into a hole we can't see into. I don't think there _is_ a Brightside!" Skye yelled at him.

"There's always a bright side." Coulson said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Bright side is we'll eventually catch up to Ward and May." Coulson reminded them.

"I think they'll be moving slightly faster than we are!" Fitz said.

"The tunnel has to come to a stop eventually!"

"And we'll crush them when we get there!" Skye cried, overreacting slightly.

"There's two sides to this cage missing. I'm sure they'll be fine." Coulson told her, trying to calm her down.

* * *

><p>"I am going to kill you!" May screamed as Ward slammed into her, twisting her so she travelled down the tunnel sideways.<p>

"You give me that Poison Ivy I will return the favour!" Ward yelled back.

The tunnel was getting steeper.

They were travelling faster.


	20. Chapter 20

"Do you feel that?" Ward shouted as he and May continued their descent down the tunnel.

"Feel what?" May shouted back.

An icy cold wind suddenly blasted across her face.

"Cold wind. Where the _hell _is that coming from? We're underground!" May shouted

"I can think of one place and neither of us is going to like it."

"Will you just spit it out already?" May shouted

"Underground river."

"Great."

"Could be worse."

"How could it be worse?" May shrieked.

"One of us could be Fitz!"

May let out a laugh before hitting the wall of the tunnel.

"I think an Ice cold body of water would be kind of nice right about now." She called back to Ward as she also saw Ward hit the side.

"Well we're about to find out!" Ward called as he saw the floor of the tunnel disappear in front of him.

He and May flew out of the tunnel and landed in the water with identical splashes.

* * *

><p>"We aren't going straight down are we?" Coulson asked.<p>

"I would assume not, otherwise we might find two mangled bodies at the bottom of the chasm." Fitz said not really thinking.

"WHAT?" Skye asked.

"I'm sure they just slid down the tunnel and have landed somewhere." Coulson reassured her.

"I wonder how this works, I mean, we are definatley headed down on an angle and we have already gone around one bend, but it doesn't seem likely that the cage would fit without careful measurements and controls." Fitz pondered.

"My hands are numb!" Simmons whimpered.

"Keep hanging on!" Coulson told her.

"I wish I could tie myself to the cage with my belt!"

"I wouldn't recommend it. Last time we had to climb all over this thing." Coulson reminded her.

"Oh yeah."

"I hope we aren't on it long." Skye said dejected. She was worried about Ward and May, especially Ward.

"We shouldn't be. I don't think we were on it very long last time, it just felt like we were as we had to keep moving."

Fitz couldn't help his curiosity so he started climbing around on the cage bars.

His movements shook the cage slightly, which forced it to hit the sides of the tunnel.

"AAARRRGGHHHH!" Skye screamed

"FITZ!" Simmons shrieked.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? YOU CAN OBSERVE THE CAGE LATER!" Coulson shouted at him.

The cage steadied itself and the four occupants of it remained still.

Skye knitted her eyebrows together.

"What's up?" Coulson asked her.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Simmons asked.

"I don't know. I must have imagined it." Skye said, going quiet again and wondering if she _had_ been hearing things.

* * *

><p>"HOLY CRAP THIS IS COLD!" May shrieked as she broke through the surface of the river.<p>

"No, really?" Ward replied sarcastically, shaking the water out of his hair.

The two of them were treading water trying to stay put against the current. The river they were in only had sheer sides up to the tunnel. There was no way to climb out.

"At least the itching's stopped!" May said, trying to lighten the mood.

"At least my friction burns are getting cooled." Ward replied.

"What friction burns?" May asked, the water making her feel slightly stupid. She hadn't seen any burns.

"The one's I got from having sex while none of you were watching." Ward snapped at her.

"You were having sex in here?"

"Wait, do you hear that?"

May listened.

"That sounds like something big and heavy sliding down a slope and getting stuck on corners." May said, brightening. They were about to be reunited with the others.

* * *

><p>"Wow that's A cold breeze!" Skye said through chattering teeth.<p>

"We're underground. I wonder whats causing it?" Simmons pondered aloud to the group.

"There could be an air hole and because we are underground it forms a sort of wind tunnel. And as it's been raining it would make sense that it's cold." Fitz offered as a suggestion.

"It's getting stronger." Coulson told them.

The four of them were hanging onto the cage which was rocking around the tunnel violently in the wind, which was also making their fingers ice cold.

"This doesn't fit with an air hole." Fitz said as the wind nearly knocked him off the cage.

They were now finding they had to shout to be heard.

"Erm... guys... you may want to hold on reallll tight." Skye said. She was on the front of the cage, while the others were on the sides and she could see what they were about to pass over.


	21. Chapter 21

Coulson carefully clambered over to Skye and saw the river before him.

"Skye go get over to Simmons, When you can I want Both of you to grab hold of May. I'll get Ward with Fitz."

Skye set off towards Simmons and Coulson made his way over to Fitz.

"We need to grab Ward when we pass over. I'll grab his arm but I'll need your help to haul him up and I need you to make sure I don't join him."

"Join him where?" Fitz asked him, wondering what he saw.

"Underground river."

* * *

><p>Ward and May saw the shadow of the cage approach the opening to the river and he saw shadows climbing around inside.<p>

One of them must have realised they were in the water and were now hatching a plan to extract them.

The cage passed into view and Ward could see Skye and Simmons on one side and Coulson and Fitz of the other.

"May, get over to the girls!" Ward shouted, splashing his way to an approximation of where Coulson and Fitz would pass overhead. He turned to face May, who had done the same, but for Skye and Simmons.

The wire the cage passed over dipped as it emerged from the tunnel as it no longer had something to support it, but Ward reasoned that this would work in their favour as they would have less distance to be hauled up. It was now only about a metre, rather than the five it had previously been. Once he saw Fitz and Coulson were getting ready he stuck his uninjured arm in the air and, treading water faster so that he was as far out of the water as possible, waited for Coulson and Fitz to grab onto him, which they did sooner than he actually expected them to.

* * *

><p>"I can see them! They're there!" Skye called happily.<p>

"I told you they'd be alright." Coulson shouted back to her.

They had all got as far as they could to the bottom of the cage to minimize the distance between them and their goals.

Simmons let out a small scream and Fitz a soft moan as the cage dipped in its wire, but they were dead on the wind as soon as they left their mouths.

"Get ready!" Coulson called as he watched both May and Ward tread water faster and stick their arms in the air.

Knowing Ward had very little in the way of clothes on, Coulson reached down with one arm, hanging awkwardly with his other arm from the side of the cage, and as the cage got near Coulson dunked his arm into the icy water fully intending to wrap it under both of Ward's armpits and haul him up.

* * *

><p>May saw Skye lower her arm. Clearly she was going to try and grip hold of May supported by Simmons.<p>

She sped up treading the water and waved her arms in the air.

Skye ducked low and reached out for May, gripping her collar before the cage moved out of reach.

Once Skye had hold, Simmons reached out and helped heave May out of the water until she could use her free hand to grip the cage.

Once they knew she was secure they let go of her which allowed May, for the first time that day, to grip the side of the cage with both hands.

"You ok?" Skye asked May as water poured from her clothes and her teeth started chattering.

"I. Fine. Will. Kill." May chattered.

Skye and Simmons let out a sigh of relief and looked up to watch how well the boys were getting on with Ward.

* * *

><p>Ward saw what Coulson was doing and lowered his arm to present him with a bigger target. Once Coulson reached Ward he managed to get his arm under Ward's armpits and pull.<p>

Ward was prepared for it and once Coulson had pulled him free from the water Ward lunged for the lowest rung of the cage, his strength nearly failing him once more, only saved from falling back into the water by Fitz gripping him around the wrist. Between Coulson and Fitz they helped Ward climb up the side of the cage so that his feet were adding to his security.

"All good?" Coulson shouted

"Yeah. May appeared to be easier than Ward." Skye shouted back.

The cage continued crossing the river slowly until it reached the opposite bank where it jerked to a stop, floor dangling precariously above the water.

"I don't like this" Fitz muttered.

"We'll be ok Fitz." Ward tried to reassure him.

"How? We drop into that water we'll all freeze to death. Don't think I didn't notice how cold you are!" Fitz yelled back at him, panicking.

"I'm going to guess that this isn't the end of the ride." Ward told him.

"My hands are so numb. I don't think I can hold on!" Simmons called.

Coulson could see her struggling to hold onto the side of the cage and tried to make his way round to her. He got about half way before she let out a scream and let go.

Fortunatley for Simmons a cage floor had shot out of the river bank and attached itself to the cage already there. She landed awkwardly on it, her already twisted knee buckling, but was saved from the icy water below.

"Oh thank God!" Ward cried, letting go and joining her.

The cage gave another judder and started moving again just as May, Fitz, Skye and Coulson also dropped to the floor.


	22. Chapter 22

Ward and May started shivering violently on the floor of the cage.

"You two ok?" Coulson asked.

"F-f-f-f-i-i-n-n-n-e-e-e" Ward replied through chattering teeth.

"That water was icy." May told him, trying (and failing) to stop her hands shaking.

Coulson was worried. He was sure his entire team would be sent to medical once they got back. He started to feel for Ward. For some reason he always got hit worst.

"I don't like this." Skye voiced.

"Why?" Coulson asked her.

"We suddenly get a floor we can walk on, the cage slows down to a crawl and we are just left to sit here and enjoy the ride?"

"Skye has a point. The last time we were in this situation we had to overcome loads of obstacles." Simmons agreed.

"So when's the next obstacle do you think?" Fitz asked.

They all shared looks with each other.

"Is it me or is it heating up?" Ward asked.

"Tell me you aren't getting pneumonia again?"

"No, I feel it too." May said, backing Ward up.

"Are you sure?" Coulson asked.

"Why would they be feeling it, but the rest of us not?" Fitz asked.

"Because their core body temperature has dropped, which makes them more sensitive to heat changes." Simmons told them.

"So why would they feel warm and us not." Skye asked confused.

"To us the change is more sudden, to you its gradual so you don't notice it." May told her.

"So what you're trying to tell us is we're headed towards something very, very hot?" Skye asked.

"Yes, but I think we're going to be tossed around something chronic first." Ward said. Due to the fact that all he was wearing was a pair of boxers he had dried off fairly quickly. Skye had moved over and cuddled into his side to offer him some warmth.

"Why do you think that?" Coulson asked.

"Because the maniac behind this left us and escape route." May answered, nodding towards the open side of the cage.

Just then the cage shuddered to a stall

"Can anyone see anything?" Coulson asked as they all ran to the sides of the cage

"No, all I got is tunnel." May cried

"Me too!" Skye yelled from the other side.

Fitz and Simmons checked the floor and found it to be solid.

Ward stuck his arm through the bar of the cage and found the way ahead was also blocked.

Coulson risked a look up. The way they were headed became immediately clear.

"I'd stay near the walls." He advised the team. He didn't like the look of the smooth walls they were about to be lifted up.

The cage juddered again. It lifted ten feet in the air and Coulson immediately knew he did right telling everyone to stand around the edges. Fire erupted from the sides of the tunnel, reaching out across the entire width of the passage. Fortunately for them, it was concentrated to the centre of the cage so it was only Ward who had to move swiftly to avoid getting singed.

The cage kept moving and eventually the fire stopped and everyone let out a sigh of relief before blue light flashed all around them and they all felt a jolt of electricity pass through them.

"This guy is a psycho." May groaned. As she was still dripping with water she was hit the worst.

They continued to move through the air.

"Everyone to the middle!" May yelled as she noticed some holes on the wall.

There was a mad dash back to the centre of the cage. Skye made it just before more flames erupted across the tunnel.

"Brace yourselves!" Ward called as the blue light started flashing again.

They felt the zap of electricity pass through them.

"How much further do we have to go?" Skye asked, trying to control her heart rate and return it to normal.

"Looks like another 50 feet." Ward said, trying to get his breath back. That last jolt had knocked all the air out of his lungs.

"Eurgh!" Skye groaned.

"Can anyone see where the next round is coming from?" Coulson asked.

They all looked up at the walls of the tunnel, but could see no holes or gaps where a fire trap could be placed.

As the cage rose they continued to look, but still couldn't see anything.

Eventually the cage came to a stop, hanging over a 100ft drop.

A loud, creaking sound filled the tunnel.

"That doesn't sound good." Ward said.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Happy New Year!**

**Any ideas whats going to happen next?**


	23. Chapter 23

The team, realising the sound was coming from above them looked up in time to see the ceiling start to retract. The second there was a gap big enough a cascade of water fell on them, forcing them to the cage floor, limbs slipping between the bars, the water fast and relentless over their heads. They couldn't move. The torrent of water was far too powerful.

Just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

"Everyone ok?" Coulson asked.

"Just as I was starting to dry off." Ward grumbled.

"I think we're all fine." May said, extracting her leg from between the bars.

Slowly, as the cage was now slippery, they all managed to pull their arms and legs from gap in the cage bars. Just as Skye's leg cleared it the cage juddered and started moving again. It headed through a tunnel and started sliding down a hill.

They all slid to the side of the cage, hitting it with a thud each, except Fitz, who hit Simmons.

"OWW!" She squealed.

Fitz rolled off her.

The cage only made it 500m before stopping again.

"Look around. See which way we're heading!" Coulson said and immediately all six of the scanned the walls, floor and ceiling of the tunnel to find their next direction.

A wall slammed the opening shut, sealing them shut in the cage.

"This isn't going to be good." Coulson muttered.

The floor quickly disappeared and before any of them could react they were sliding down a chute, squealing in pain when they hit each other. Their speed increased. They were clearly heading downhill.

"I hope we don't land back in water!" May yelled.

"I do. Based on what we've just been through, we could land in anything." Ward yelled back, just as the mouth of the chute opened and they all flew through the air, landing in a pool.

Of mud.

"Great!" Fitz complained as they all started fighting the thick, oozing, sucking liquid. Eventually Ward and Coulson made it to the edge of the pit where they, mercifully, found a concrete path. Once they had secured themselves they turned to face the others and helped haul them out of the pit.

"Which way?" Simmons asked. Coulson could see she was clearly shaking.

"That way." Ward said.

"You sure?"

"I agree. It looks smaller and more dangerous. It's that way."

"Wouldn't that mean it _is_ smaller and more dangerous?" Fitz asked.

"I agree with these two. 99% of people would opt for the safest looking routes." Coulson told them.

"If this goes badly I'm going to toss you both back in that mud pit." Skye moaned, knowing full well that she didn't have the skill set to follow through on her threat.

May, by popular vote, led the group to their selected archway with Ward, yet again bringing up the rear.

She guided them down corridor after corridor until she came to a dead end. An arrow pointing up guided her vision to a ladder that they were all expected to climb. For this they altered their order. Simmons went first, then May, then Fitz, then Ward, Skye and Coulson. The idea being that Ward and May could help Fitz and Simmons as they climbed.

Simmons climbed halfway up the ladder before she slipped. She fell down two rungs before May caught her and helped her to hang on again.

"You ok?" She asked.

Simmons nodded before taking a couple of breaths and climbing again. She made it another six rungs when she heard a creaking sound.

"What's up?" May asked as she hit the top of her head on the bottom of Simmons shoes.

"There's a creaking noise. It sounds like metal moving." Simmons explained.

"It's an old ladder, it's going to creak." May pointed out.

"OOF!"

May felt Fitz do what she had done to Simmons.

"What's going on?" he called.

"Simmons is freaking out because she can hear metal doing what metal does."

"I am not freaking out!" Simmons protested.

"Then can you get a move on?"

Simmons was about to move when the creaking became worse. She heard the sound of metal snapping and felt one side of the ladder give way.

"May, this ladders going, we need to all climb down now."

Before May could relay the message to Fitz the other side of the ladder snapped and Simmons, May, Fitz and Ward found themselves freefalling down the tunnel.

* * *

><p>Skye looked up from her position on the ladder and saw the four people in front of her, the ladder two rungs above her groaning on the weld points, splintering and falling away from the wall.<p>

She and Coulson heard Simmons and Fitz scream while Ward's voice could be heard exclaiming 'not again'.

Skye and Coulson reached out to try and catch the others, but they were flying past them so fast it was difficult.

Skye managed to feel some fabric and gripped her hand into a fist.

When the body had fallen as far as it could Skye held on, feeling like her shoulder was about to be dislocated she then felt two hands wrap themselves around her arm.

Skye could feel the weight getting heavier and heavier. Cautiously she looked down.

She had caught Simmons, who had wrapped both hands around her to stop from falling. The weight was explained by May catching hold of Simmons and Fitz simultaneously and looking like she was about to be stretched into oblivion. Ward had caught hold of Fitz and was dangling from the bottom of the group in midair.

Coulson reached out with one hand to try and relieve Skye of some of the weight but he found himself being pushed up against the wall by Simmons swinging body.

Ward was trying to reach the ladder so he could let go of Fitz and help him back onto it, but he was swinging too wildly. Hesitantly he looked down to see how far he would drop if he let go.

Realising it wasn't far enough to kill him Ward let go. He could hear screaming above him and landed deftly on his feet.

He looked up.

"Fitz. Let go! It's not that far. I can catch you at the bottom." He called.

He waited for a few seconds.

"Fitz! You will split May in half if you keep hanging there!"

"Alright, I'll drop. Just make sure you catch me!"

Ward prepared his body and looked up to see how Fitz would drop. He watched as May let go of Fitz and Fitz let his body fall towards the ground.

Ward caught him easily and set him onto his feet.

May landed cat like next to him almost immediately, making the shocked rocket scientist jump a mile.

"Simmons. Let go of Skye. We've got you!" May called up.

"I can't!" She cried.

"Simmons! You're suffocating Coulson!" Ward lied to her.

"Alright! I'm letting go now!" She called back, able to feel Coulson's body pressed into her back and realising Ward was right.

She screamed as she fell, but Ward and May caught her as they promised and set her back onto her feet. She was shaking violently so Ward put his arms around her and pulled her in for a hug. By the time Skye and Coulson had climbed back down the ladder she had stopped shaking and Ward had released her.

"I told you this was the wrong way to go!" Simmons stammered.

"I think it was the safest route because of everything that Ward and May said, but the ladder had rusted through. There must be condensation form and over a period of time it's reacted on the metal with the oxygen in the tunnel which has in time weakened the metal. Our weight must have been enough for it to go." Fitz explained.

"And how do you know this?" Simmons asked.

"I looked at the ladder while Skye and Coulson climbed down the rest of it."

"Let's go back to the tar pit." Ward suggested.

"It was only Mud."

"Mud that is rapidly hardening in this cold."

They hadn't noticed before but Ward was right. The mud they were covered in was beginning to harden, and in some places crack.


End file.
